ers who were
with the company explored the spot. There were two mud-holes which
supplied water, and had a couple of palms near them, pretty well in the
open, and a third spring a hundred yards from the others, larger and
deeper, and apparently yielding a better supply than both the others put
together, but so near a patch of rocks and thick mimosas which would
afford dangerous cover to an enemy, should any be in the neighbourhood,
that it would never do to camp close by it.

So when the colour-sergeant was called out presently, he learned that it
had been determined to form the zereba so as to include the two smaller
water holes and the palm-trees, and the ground was marked out
accordingly. Then all set to work to cut down mimosa bushes, and make a
hedge of them all round, a gap, just admitting of one camel to pass at a
time, being left on the side nearest the outside well, but not at the
corner, and this gap was marked by a short hedge inside facing it. It
was determined to use this outside well while they had the place to
themselves, and reserve those within the zereba in case of an attack.

The space enclosed was as limited as was consistent with convenience to
render it more capable of defence, and the hedge was breast high, so
that the men could fire over it without their aim being in any way
impeded. Shrubs beyond those required to form the zereba were cut down
and stored for firewood, so as to remove all cover where Arabs might
conceal themselves as far as possible.

Most of this work was done before dinner, and the men had two hours'
rest. After that tapes were brought out and the lines of a trench
marked off, six feet from the hedge all round, and when that was done
the men began to dig it out, five feet wide, one foot and a foot and a
half deep, throwing the soil out on the hedge side, flattening it down
and making it as firm as they could, so that if exposed to heavy fire
the men might find protection, since the prickly walls, though difficult
for men to struggle through, would not stop bullets. And so a good
day's work ended, and the night sentries were posted between the trench
and the hedge.

There was no alarm that night. The next morning the camels were taken
outside the zereba and watered at the large well, from which also a
supply was drawn for the company; and it sufficed for all, evidently a
valuable spring. That day the trench was completed, deepened a little,
but not much, as it would n